horni



April 15, 1930.

" PQ P. H'oRNl TRAFFIC SIGNAL original Filed Dec. 9.- 192e 5 sheepsshet'1 /lll/Illlllrz Snom/Lto;

P. P. H-oRNl TRAFFIC SIGNAL April 15, '1930.

Original Filed Dec, 91926 I5 Sheets-Sheen l v 'vwe (PMX. (P. Hamm',

Reissued Apr.` 15', v1'930 UNITED sTATEsPA'TEm- .OFFICE- ram. r. nonni,oF miw'anx, New JEBSY 'music SIGNAL original no. 1,128,762, datedseptember 17, 192s, serial no. 153,818, med December a, 1926.Application for reissue led November 12. 1829. Serial No. 406,691.

invention relates 4to `signal lanterns designed to control vehiculartralii'c on hlghwas, y preferred form of trailic signal lanterns,

in general use today, comprises two or more lantern units arranged ill avertical column,

each lantern unit having a central lamp around which on thefour sides ofthe lan- `tern are placed colored lenses, the lamp occupy'ing the commonfocus of all the four lenses of its unit.. Each' ullit is thereforeadapted to project light signals in our eardinal directions. Twoopposite lenses of one unit may, for example, be colored red while thetwo collateral leusesmay be colored green, thus enabling the one lampto'give simultaneously both the go signal for one straight-l aheaddirection and the Stop signal for the lcross traffic. Another unitvertically disposed with referenceto the {'.rst unit will have' thecolors of the lenses shifted 90 lom'those of theI rst unit and generallya third unit will also be provided that has amber lenses on all foursides of the lantern for giving a clearance interval between changesof-traiic.'

Such lanterns, while possessing the merit of simplicityand cheapness,have been found to fail in practice to meet conditions that are irreular or that ne uire particular accuracy ao'in the ocusino of t e signalrays. For example, when the lantern is hung at considerable elevationabove the road, the light rays issuing therefrom may not strike the roadat all, or they may strike it on a sido where the roadway is up-gradeand miss it `altogether on a side where the roadway is down-grade.Similarly when the roadways meet at angles other thanv 90, or in theevent of the required independent signal control of two'or mprecontiguous lanes ofA traiic which are substantially or nearly parallel,

the rays issuingfrom the lenses may miss entit-ely one or more of theroads or lanes of traic.

The objectA ofthe present invention is to provide means for adaptingtrailic controlling si nal lanterns to tllese varying conditions 'w ichare encountered especially in crowded metropolitan jdistricts.

To this end, the present invention in traliic that colnprise t signalscomprises a lantern support and a' of lslgnal'lanternsA ar group o f apluralitiyI ranged aroundsai support Jin a common horlzontal plane,some, and preferablyall,`

of the lanterns of said group being mounted upon and relativelyadjustable about vertical axes uponsaid support to project the signallight rays of 'any'two adjacent lanterns in any required angularrelation betvveen'par-l allelism in two opposite directions. It is Inaddition to the described relativeadjust-` melt of the signal lanterns'in a horizontal plane, I prefertoprovide-a further adjustment of theindividual lanterns in verticalplanes upon horizontal axes to suit thegrades ofthe roadways under the' signal control.

In its preferred embodiment. the invention comprlses a group of aplurality of vertical lantern houslngs arranged about a common center,each housing containingin a vertical tier all the lamps and .theirfocusing lenses lesignals for one direction and each ofthe saidlhousings being independently adjustable on a fixed support both 'arounda vertical axis for' horizontal adjustment and around a horizontal axisfor ver- 1 tical adjustment so thatall the lamps and theirfocusing'lenses having been factoryassembled in any one housingto issueparallelrays may after the lanterns are located,`

have the lenses so presented that the associated rays will issue fromany housing, in

such amanner as a group to compensate for any irregularlty.

The invention further comprises certain novel specific combinationsembodied in the i particular application of the invention asAhereinafter described and claimed.

An embodiment of the invention. is illustrated ill theaccompanyingdrawings, in which Y i Figure l is a vertical section of asignal y lantern Figure 2'is aplan of one of the lantern y `adjustingdevices;

`lamp 20,

Figure 3 is an elevation of the same, details `the units in the samedirection being arranged for the control o't'ltrallic along two adjacentlanes on the same street or boulevard.

Figure 9` is a top plan view of the 5-unit trallic signal shownin FigureGwith lamp 20, globe 21 and standard therefor removed, three of theunits being arranged in parallelism and'presented in the samedirectionfor the control ot' tratlic inthree adjacent lanes on the same street orboulevard. Y

In the drawings, 1 represents a hollow pedestal or post for supj'iortingthe group of signal lanterns. On the top of this pedestal is mounted alantern su pport 2 which is preierably made hollow in the form shown. The lower end of the tubular lantern support 2 is outwardly flanged asshown at 2 to rest firmly upon a heavy flanged tubular'thiinblc 1Ilwhich is secured to the top of the pedestal l. The thmble l telescopeswith the lower end of lantern support 2. At the base of the lanternsupport 2, an inverted bell 3 rests upon the horizontal flange ofthimble 1. and extends outwardlyfroin the support and at suitable pointshas hollow trunnions or pivots -4 for forming the pivotal supports forthe lamp housings which are shown at 5.

Lamp housings 5 have at thcirupper ends the upwardly presented rigidlugs 6 which are pivotally journallcd in sleevcslbeing' held therein ycap screws 8. The sleeves 7 hare the'slotted arms 9 through the slot ofeach of which passes the stem of a bolt 10 which extends laterally troma swivel block 1l which in turn is journallcd on a vertical lug 12, theswivel block being held on the lug by a cap screw 13. The lugs 12project upwardly from radial arms of a toprplate`14 formed with a.central downwardly presented annular flange or sleeve 14a whichtelescopes in and is lirmlys'ec'ured to the upper end of the tubularlantern support 2. The clamping screw 10 has a nut15. y l

The parts just described form a meanso v pivoting the upper end of eachof the housings 5 on a verticalaxis corresponding to the axis of thepivot 4 andalso perlmtting a certain amount of tipping ,adjustmentaround a horizontal axis, the pivot 4 thus acting as a universal joint.By oosening the nut 15, the housing 5 can be tipped' outwardly, rockingon the lower pivot 4 until the rays -from lamps j 16" in the housingpassing through lenses 17 in the rontvof the housing will beconcentrated on that part of the roadway where the most directapplication of the light is desired.

YWhen so adjusted, the nut 15 can be tifrhtened 70 onto the slotted arm9 to hold vthe lantern housing 5 permanently in the position ot desiredinclination. Similarly, by loosening a cap screw 8 each lantern housingcan be turned as on a vertical or substantially vertical axis until therays from the lights have the proper horizontal direction when the capscrew 8 upon being tightened clamps the sleeve .7 to lug 6 so as to holdthe lantern housing permanently in the desired horizontal de- 30lection. AAt the base of each lantern housing 5, a hollow trunnion 18'ismade to match .over the trunnion 4 so as to provide the universal jointnccessaryfor the motions above described and through this hollowtrunnion ar'e led the wires'19 that supply electricity to the lamps 16.From this it will be seen that any adjustments of the lantern housings 5will not interfere with the wiring. The means just described forpivoting the lanterns may be variedinnumcrous Ways. Any well known g i Dmeans for adjusting a frame about a vertical or a horizontal axismaybeemployed.

The lamp 22 in th""i'nverted bell 3 ma-ysben used to throw spill-lightonto the roadway or n the base of the lamp supporting pedestal. A jylamp 20 is also mounted at the'top of the lantern andenclosed ina globe21, these elements serving the purpose of an ordinary-street lamp. AThemanner 1n which the lantern hous-V {ings can be adjusted to cast therays-of the lamps downward is illustrated at the right haudpsidc ofFigure 1 by dotted lines, while in Figures 5,. G and 7 are shown some ofthe various positions that the lantern housings y may lie adjusted to,around their vertical axes,

Ato* direct'their rays along roadways having different angularities. sIn Figure 6 is illusina trated a modification where five lantern hous jY ings are. mounted onone support to be used* where five roadways meet.It will be understood that the` number of housings at any cross-roadlocation will be varied to suit the requirements. j v

The expanse of the groupo'f lantern housings around the lantern supportwillde'pend largely upon the number of'lanterns in the group. Theindividual lantern housings are independently and relatively adjustableYupon their substantially verticalsupporting axes through suitable arcs,of movement to enable the signal light rays of any two adjacent lanternsto be projected in any re" quired angular relation :between parallellism.in two voppositedirections. With the modified arrangement shown infFlgure of' the drawings it is possible 'to adjust threeV of thelanterns in ahorizontal plane to project the light rays of all' three insuitable directions llO for a plurality of contiguous substantiallyparallel traihe lanes.`

f vices known to the art may be substituted for .those shown and stillcome within the scope of my claims. 'l

l. A' traffic signal comprising a lantern support, a group of aplurality Aof signal lanterns spaced around said support in a commonhorizontal plane,' all of the lanterns of said group being mounted uponindependent vertical axes upon said suppoit and adjustable'relativelyupon said axes to project the light rays of, any two adjacent lanternsin any desired angular-relation to each other between parallelism in thesame or opposite directions. w

2. A tratc' signal comprising a lantern support, a group of aplurality-of signal. lanterns arranged around saidsupport in acommonhorizontal plane, each of the lan- 1terne of said group beingmounted upon a vertical axis upon said 'support and adjusta' ble aboutits said'axis, and any two adjacent.

lanterns of said group' being movable relatively thereto to projecttheir signal light rays in parallelism with the signal light raystherefrom.

3. A traflic signal` comprising a lantern supportfagroup of a pluralityof signal lan;-

, terns spaced around said sup ort'in a common horizontal plane,'each osaid lanterns being mounted upon a vertical axis upon said support andadjustable through an are upon its said axis to project the light raysof three of said signal lanterns towards the approaching traiiic in `raplurality of substantially par-A allel contiguous traic lanes.

ALZA' traffic signal comprising a lantern support, a plurality of signallanterns ari. vranged around said support in a common horizonialplane,each of said lanterns being rays of two or three of said signal lanternscan be projected in directions traflic lanes..-

5. A tratiic si ingsarranged around said support in spaced arallel to a'plurality of contiguous substantially parallel al*` comprising alanternV support, a plurality of signal lantern hous adjustable aboutits said axis in relation to y.

adjacent lantern housings, whereby any two adjacent lantern housihgs maybe adjusted to project their signal light rays towards ap@ proachingtraffic in a .plurality of contiguous substantially parallel trafficlanes.

6. A traflic signal comprising in combinan tion, a lantern Support, aplurality of lantern housings arranged around said support, each housingcontaining all the lamps and lenses for the'signals of a particulardirection :arranged therein in a vertical column, each housing beingmounted at its lower end on a universal pivotal connection with -the support and at its upper end having means for adjusting and holding thehousing at diierent -vertical and horizontal angles, the uni-v versalpivot being hollow to permit the passage of wires. s

7. A traflic signal comprising a plurality of signal lanterns, a lanternsupport common .-to all of said lanterns; said lanterns being arrangedin a. group around said common support and upon di tferent axessubstantially normal to a common plane, all of the lanterns of saidgroup being independently adjustable about their respective axes topositions in which the light rays of any two adjacent lanterns areprojected in variable angular relations oi' in parallelism.

8. A traic sional comprisin a lantern support, a plurality `or signallanterns arranged in a group around said lantern support, saidlanternsbeing independently adj ustable about their respective axes to relativepositions in which the light rays of any two adjacent lanterns may beprojected' at .relative angles of any degree between par-A allelism inthe same direction and parallelism in opposite directions.l

PAUL r. nonni.

- relation and in substantially the same hori-v zontal plane, each ofsaid lantern housings the housingA in a vertical column, and eachcontaining all the `lamps and lenses for theA signals oa particulardirection arranged in of said housings being mounted upon a verticalaxis upon said support and independently` ino

